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This article is about the peanut butter filled chocolate. For other meanings, see Reese.

The Reese's logo

Two Reese's peanut butter cups in orange packaging

Reese's Peanut Butter Cups are a brand of chocolatecandy filled with peanut butter, marketed by The Hershey Company. They were created in 1928 by Harry Burnett Reese (H. B. Reese), a former dairy farmer and shipping foreman for Milton S. Hershey. Reese was inspired by Mr. Hershey, so he left the dairy farm to start his own candy business. The H. B. Reese Candy Co. was established in the basement of Reese's house in Hershey, Pennsylvania,[1] and used Hershey chocolate in his confections. Reese's Peanut Butter Cups were his most popular candy, which are now also available in mini form. Line extensions have included Reese's Pieces and Reese's Puff Cereal. He ended up discontinuing his other lines. Several years after his death, Reese's company was sold to the Hershey Company in 1963 for $23.5 million.

Contents

Variations

Reese's miniature peanut butter cups

Miniature Reese's Peanut Butter Cups are sold in bags of 9 ounces (260 g) or more. These chocolates come in a black paper cup wrapped in gold or colored foil. Hershey's also produces "limited editions" of the candy that have included:[2]

Marshmallow – the traditional cup with an added layer of marshmallow filling

Peanut Butter & Banana Creme – a layered cup with a top chocolate layer, bottom banana creme layer, and peanut butter filling; released in summer 2007 in tribute to Elvis Presley. It was available in standard, Big Cups and Miniatures sizes

In September 2007, Hershey's began producing a new Reese's bar called Reese's Whipps. Featuring peanut butter-flavored nougat with a chocolate coating, it has been likened to a peanut butter-flavored 3 Musketeers candy bar.

For the July 2008 release of the Batman feature film The Dark Knight, Reese's released two limited time products: blue and black Reese's Pieces with Batman's likeness on the packaging and Reese's cups shaped like the Batman logo.

The fact that Reese Sticks digressed from the normal Reese's naming pattern was pointed out by Paul Lukas in his zine Beer Frame.[3] As Lukas noted, even though the official name was Reese Sticks, most people he casually surveyed pronounced it unknowingly as Reese's Sticks. In 2009, Hershey's changed the name officially to Reese's Sticks.

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Holiday editions

During the seasons when retailers offer holiday candies, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups are offered in unique holiday-related shapes. These various shapes still offer the standard confection theme of the traditional Reese's cup (peanut butter contained in a chocolate shell). They are sold in a 6-pack packaging configuration, but are usually available as individual items as well. Recently, larger (roughly twice the size of the 6-pack item) versions of the various shapes are available at certain retailers. Exterior packaging is altered to reflect the theme of the representative holiday. [4]

Reese's Peanut Butter Hearts - Available mainly during January and February, these are heart-shaped confections representing Valentine's Day. At various retailers, an individually-packaged, larger heart is available as well. These are packaged in a red and white exterior packaging theme.

Reese's Peanut Butter Egg

Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs - Available mainly during March and April, these are egg-shaped confections representing the Christian holiday Easter. Exterior packaging is usually yellow and orange (milk chocolate), white and orange (white chocolate), or dark brown and orange (fudge-flavored chocolate). This is the only holiday-themed item available in three various chocolate varities. A larger, individually-packaged Easter Bunny Reese's peanut butter item ,known as Reester Bunny, is available as well.

Reese's Peanut Butter Pumpkins - Available mainly during September and October, these are pumpkin-shaped confections representing Halloween. The packaging is purple and orange.

Reese's Peanut Butter Trees - Available mainly during November and December, these are evergreen tree-shaped confections representing the Christian holiday Christmas. At various retailers, these may be available in standard milk chocolate or white. The packaging was green, white, and orange, but has been changed to the traditional orange packaging with an evergreen tree on the cover.

In December 2005, it was noted that some of the holiday shaped Reese's candies (such as the Bells) contain gluten, unlike the standard peanut butter cups.[5]

Licensed foods

Hershey licenses the Reese's brand (name, logo, etc.) to various companies for the production of other products beyond the traditional realm of candy. For example, General Mills produces Reese's Puffs, a brand of peanut butter and chocolate flavored breakfast cereal. Several companies, including Breyers, Baskin-Robbins, and Friendly's, produce various licensed Reese's ice cream products.

Marketing and advertising

In the United States, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups typically come in two-, four-, and eight-packs in distinctive orange packaging, set on thin but rigid paperboard trays. The "Classic" two-pack is a .75 oz. cup, the "King Size" four-pack is a .70 oz. cup and the "Lunch" eight-pack is a .55 oz. cup. "Large Size" packs of three .70 oz. cups are also available. The "mini" cups come in various bag sizes and foil colors around seasonal themes like red, gold and green for the Christmas holiday season. In Canada, where they are packaged as Reese Peanut Butter Cups, but still widely referred to by their American name, they come in a standard pack of three cups or the king-size variation with four cups. In the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, they were originally available only in two-packs, though are now only available in three-packs, imported from Canada. In 2007 Reese's Peanut Butter Cups were made available in Denmark by Hydro Texaco and 7-Eleven. Some small shops located in Sydney, Australia have stocked Reese's Chocolate bars.

Kevin Harvick's car, promoting Reese's Cookies

In the 1970s and 1980s, a series of commercials was run for Reese's Peanut Butter Cups featuring situations in which two people, one eating peanut butter and one eating chocolate, collided. One person would exclaim, "You got your peanut butter in my chocolate!" and the other would exclaim, "You got your chocolate in my peanut butter!" [6] They would then sample the mixture and remark on the great taste, tying in with the slogan "Two great tastes that taste great together."

These commercials became an object of satire to comedians and cartoonists. In the episode PTV of the animated television series Family Guy, Officer Reese's shoots both parties after he realizes the combination's flavor. In the children's book Captain Underpants and the Preposterous Plight of the Purple Potty People[7], in the comic book made by the alternate George and Harold, Captain Blunder-pants, chased onto a highway, carrying a box of extra cheesy pizza, gets in the way of two trucks, one carrying "Rich Milk Chocolate" and the other carrying "Creamy Peanut Butter." The trucks collide, and because of the combination of cheese, chocolate, and peanut butter, the accident gives Captain Blunder-pants super powers similar to those that Captain Underpants gets from the alien-origin Super Power Juice.

In the 1990s, the product's slogan was: "There's no wrong way to eat a Reese's." [8] The current slogan, introduced in the mid-2000s, is: "Perfect."